American Sniper is a really good movie and a really fair movie when it comes to representing war as I picture it. Full disclosure – I have never been in the military, nor do I plan on serving in the near future. My initial reaction to the people around me in the theater is that people don’t understand how important ethics is to a soldier in a war zone. You don’t just become the most deadly sniper in history without killing armed women and children.

We are all taught in our American bubble that war is supposed to be between men and that women and children are left alone. Well, as many people around me in the theater’s bubble was immediately burst, American society needs to realize that fear along with being mis-leaded drives the malice of war.

Men kill men. Women kill men. Children kill men. Women kill women. Women kill children. Men kill children. Children kill men, women and children. That’s war and that’s why Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) received and deserved his Oscar nomination for best actor. Yes it is blatantly obvious that it is a Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino) movie because of the glorification of Chris Kyle as a man who could do no wrong.

Well, I think this is the best part of the movie, because I believe that there are too many people out there that half-ass their job calling. I mean what is the point of doing something unless you strive and work your hardest to be the best. The second you doubt yourself and show an inkling of weakness, your dead… literally and figuratively. If you have a mission and a destiny in life, you have to make it happen yourself – Chris’s destiny was to help save as many people as possible in the army… yes PTSD was a serious ailment of Chris’s, but it only was because he knew his duty – to help save lives. If he wasn’t saving the lives of his brothers in some way, then he wasn’t fulfilling his purpose in life (which is the theme I grasped onto in the movie).

Now, my biggest issue with the movie and the reason why this probably won’t make my top 10 movies of the year is the character of Chris’s wife. Sienna Miller was terrible. She is the least likeable female character I have seen in years. Her character arc is a fucking mess and all of her dialogue is contradictive. She complains about a guy hitting on her not being tall enough for her to date her and throughout the movie she seems to be obsessed with tall men who aren’t macho – go figures why she is hanging out at a military bar in the first place. She is completely rude (which is actually a fair representation of the state of the bar dating game now) and has no motivation for any of her actions. The only reason why she isn’t the worst character of all time is because once she shuts up and plays the ailing military wife, the audience already knows the emotions they are supposed to feel.